Monday, October 3, 2011

AoA: Well I'm from Emily Minnesota...

A new Anecdote of Aspergers.

So back when I was married to my second husband, we went to Vegas. I forget why... honeymoon trip? Three day pass from Army MOS school? I don't remember. Anyhoo, we were there, and it was fun. I won $400 bucks playing electronic Keno and some game based on Monopoly. I can kick ass at computerized Monopoly... the computer becomes incredibly predictable about trading property.

So we're walking out to our car in this huge parking lot that's the size of three football fields. It was really, really dark too. Had this resolved a different way, I would have had grounds for a lawsuit.

So this skinny blonde kid stepped out in front of us. I remember I didn't feel like I was in any kind of danger. He didn't have a weapon of any kind... I think he was just trying to intimidate us. Husband Two and the kid have a bit of a verbal exchange, but this is the gist of what was said.

"So... I'm from Chicago." the kid says.

Husband number two laughs. "Well I'm from New York." he said, putting on his thickest accent. He's actually from Long Island. He's short, and cocky, and insufferably arrogant. We just kept walking.

Here's the thing... I had no idea what was going on at the time. I just thought it was just another example of people being weird and incomprehensible. Homeless dudes in the parking lot? Whatever.

It took me ten years of remembering that little bit of weirdness to realize he was probably trying to mug us. Probably lost all of his money and was trying to get back to the tables, or cover it up before his wife found out he'd drained the savings account, or something. And I had no idea. I just stood there, waiting for my husband to keep walking.

This is the kind of thing that, when I remember it or figure it out, makes me afraid for my daughter who has been diagnosed with Aspergers. I put myself in a crap-ton of dangerous situations, and had the people involved in those situations been just a little bit different, I would be dead or worse by now.

I will do my best to surround her with kind, caring, neuro-typical people, so at least if I can't be there, someone will.